At the school committee’s public comment period, Stacy Rubin, a member of the Beebe School Council, asked the committee to expand a vacant world-language exploratory at the Beebe School beyond Spanish.

“It's the 3rd school year where my child and all of her classmates have not been able to take advantage of the Spanish language exploratory,” Rubin said, adding the position was posted on Oct. 9 and remains unfilled with no applicants. Rubin said Beebe students lack parity with other K–8 schools in the district and asked the committee to allow the position to be open to languages beyond Spanish so students at Beebe have equitable access to world-language exploratory experiences.

Dawn O'Toole, an ESP in the Beebe integrated kindergarten, asked the committee to resend the district recess weather chart to the policy subcommittee, saying the chart “is vague at best” and does not adequately account for wind chill or the conditions faced by families who recently moved to Malden and may not have winter gear.

The chair responded that the committee would follow up with Rubin and thanked both speakers for raising the issues. No formal committee action on either request was taken during the meeting; Rubin and O'Toole requested follow-up and consideration by the administration and policy subcommittee.

Why it matters: Rubin framed the request as an equity issue — Beebe students have missed multiple years of the Spanish exploratory and the school council previously asked to broaden the posting, which the committee had declined. O'Toole’s request raises student-health and equity concerns about outdoor recess decisions in cold or windy conditions.

Clarifying details from comments and subsequent committee discussion:
- Rubin said the world-language exploratory posting was put up on Oct. 9 (posted by district leadership) and had no applicants.
- Rubin said the school council previously asked that the position be expanded beyond Spanish and that the council’s request was denied; she asked the committee to reconsider.
- O'Toole said the current recess-weather chart does not explicitly account for wind chill and that many students are newly arrived to Malden and may lack winter gear.

The committee noted receipt of the requests and said staff and the committee would follow up; the transcript records the chair saying, “Thank you. We will follow-up with you.”